Dragonjacks: Book 1 - The Shepherd: A Dragons of Cadwaller Novel by Vickie Knestaut & Danny Knestaut

Author:Vickie Knestaut & Danny Knestaut [Knestaut, Vickie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BL Books
Published: 2021-06-27T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

A boot nudged Tyber awake.

He rolled onto his back and looked up into the face of Halton. The man glared down at him, a lantern in his hand.

“Get up. Time to fly.”

Tyber stretched, then looked at his palm before Halton turned away. It was red and puffy. It hurt to close it into a fist as if there was too much flesh on his hand now.

It would make plucking a bowstring difficult, if not impossible. And forget wielding a sword.

Not that any such opportunity was likely to present itself.

Tyber pushed himself to his knees. Brath accompanied Ander across the barn. The others led their dragons out the door and into the sunshine.

“Look, I’m really sorry—”

“Shut up,” Halton said, staring after Ander and Brath. “I don’t want to hear it.”

Tyber swallowed, his mouth dry and icky. Hopefully there was still a waterskin in the saddlebag. He started forward.

“You never had any intention of helping Gurvi, did you?” Halton asked, his voice low.

“I gave you a box of dragon salve.”

Halton’s posture shifted, growing more stiff.

“It’s good stuff. I’ve used it before. I know it works. And I didn’t make it,” Tyber said.

“You’re not a dragon healer, are you?”

“I never claimed to be.”

“You raised my hopes,” Halton said. “You got them up. You said you could help Gurvi.”

“It sure looks like that’s not going to happen now. But not because I don’t want to help.”

“Like you helped Pendro?”

Tyber drew a deep breath. The stench of the diseased dragon lingered even though her body was no longer in the makeshift weyr.

“I didn’t kill her. You know that.”

“You didn’t save her, either.”

“Only Sirvon could have done that.”

Halton’s jaw tightened, his teeth grinding together. He drew the lantern closer to his face and blew a puff of air into the chimney. The flame sputtered and went out.

“He was the dragoneer,” Tyber said, his voice low. “It’s his job to look after the dragons.”

Halton stared at Tyber. “They’re all sick.”

Tyber’s heart raced as he pictured the leaking lesions over the brilliant blue scales of Rius.

“What’s Ander going to do about it?” Halton asked. “If it’s the dragoneer’s responsibility, then how’s he going to fix it?”

They stepped out into the bright daylight.

“Depends,” Tyber said. His face hurt even more from trying to speak while squinting and grimacing against the light.

“On what?”

Tyber scratched gently at an itch along the side of his nose, and the motion sent a throbbing through the flesh of his right palm. Flying would not be an easy task.

“You,” Tyber said. “It depends on you.”

“Me?” Halton asked, then let out a disbelieving laugh. “You just said it was the dragoneer’s responsibility to take care of this.”

“There’s no dragoneer without a horde. He can’t fix things without your support. Without the support of all the riders.

“That’s a crying shame,” Halton said. “We’re all doomed, then.”

As Ander tied himself into Verana’s saddle, Rius stared at Tyber with a familiar look of anticipation. The dragoneer had mounted the alpha. It was time to fly, time to take the sky.

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